Call it spiritual discord or spiritual detachment. This is what is creeping into the minds of youth these days. We see a growing spiritual crisis in the world today. There is devotion to indulgence of pleasure in the objects of sensual desire, which is inferior, low, vulgar, ignoble, and leads to no good; and there is devotion to self torment, which is painful, ignoble and leads to no good. Our advancement in science & technology has brought us unprecedented material well being, but we seem further away than ever before from true spiritual wholeness. Many have lost faith in traditional religions & the age old values inherited as part of a culture but they wander endlessly in search of the material gratification which they hope will find them the true happiness. Man is too deep-rooted in this gross materialistic world to let go of its “glitz & glamour” for a subtler state of finding happiness. Each tries to search for that happiness what their scriptures have told them to look out for; in the end it’s the dejection & frustration of not finding that which has been “written” making them go agnostic in their holistic view of any approach to spirituality.

Its quite evident that the difficulty in striking a balance between ones practical life and the laid down principles of their religion (please note, am not pointing to spirituality) causes them to shun that one which binds & forbids them and bingo! There goes the faith in religion and with it spirituality. Little do they know that both are virtually way apart from each other. Being part of a religion is something like being employed in a company & abiding by its rules while spirituality is like free-lancing. There are no set of rules, you are free to search by your own not at all bound by any constraints. Spirituality is an inner search for happiness and fulfillment. One must be ready to open one’s heart and with the power of cognition try to attain spiritual fulfillment which will bring true happiness and mental wellness.

What I feel is that spiritual development depends upon a true appreciation and acceptance of a diversity of spiritual beliefs. This can provide us with a fresh view of the beliefs of others, allows us to take from each set of beliefs that which holds true, and enables us to customize a personal spirituality that which makes sense for each of us; it could change from person to person depending upon what he/she wants. It also comes from our cognitive power, to search on our own without any pre-conceived ideas that innumerable religions of the world have put forth. We might be lucky to chance or tumble upon something. Either way it all points to the basic question of who we are and what we want. But are we daring enough to tread that line?.....Am I?

 Excerpts from some “freelancers”……..      

Who really knows?
Who will here proclaim it?
Whence was it produced?
Whence is this creation?
The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen?

Whence this creation has arisen
– perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not –
the One who looks down on it,
in the highest heaven, only He knows
or perhaps He does not know.

                                    “Creation Hymn – Rig Veda”

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
                                    “T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding”